"Write what you know" causes a breakthrough!

So today I found myself having difficulty with the conflicts of the world. Somehow I just couldn't get it figured out. Then I thought about the phrase "write what you know" and it hit me. I want to have a war as a backdrop that will later become more important and what better war to write about than the one I know. The one I've protested, watched new reports about, seen young men die for. So of course, I had my inspiration.

I don't want to give out too much information, but two characters were involved in orchestrating an attack so that it looked like it was from another country in order to justify a war.

The plot thickens...

Script frenzy, ahoy?

Yes! Script Frenzy, ahoy!

After a bit of coaxing by Penny, I have decided to dabble in scripting for this year's Script Frenzy at the start of April.

What pray tell shall I be writing?

A steampunk radioplay called "Mystery in the Aether".
It's about three women who created an agency called Remarkable Investigations where they are "well versed in the exceptional, strange and unexpectable" and take on cases of a similar nature. While it will borrow influences from film noir, horror and classic mystery it will have comedic elements.

The three main characters:
The Reporter - Katherine "Kittie" Holmes
The Scientist - Amelia Wright
The Explorer - Effie Cook

I'm planning to write four episodes to meet the required number of pages, and they are titled as followed:
1. They Call at Midnight - a case of civilian snatching
2. The Dead Hear Clockwork - rumors of a murderous automaton
3. An Odd Case of Wanderlust - sleepwalking amnesiacs and magicians- oh fie!
4. An Untimely Displacement - time traveling gone awry

That's the plan.

Since scriptwriting requires quite a bit less descriptive writing than fiction, this should be a bit easier to do. Plus 100 pages is far less work than the 500 or so I cranked out for Nano. [And of course I will cover my progress with Script Frenzy here.]

As for my novel, I shall continue planning and plotting until it's ready. I have sensibly moved my writing date back until May 1st or whenever all my prep material is ready (should that be earlier).


Well off to bed I go.

Cheers!

He's her doppleganger...sort of.

So things are looking up a bit. I managed to get a bit of writing done today because I was stranded at work with nothing else to do [yes I had to work this Saturday--what of it?].

Didn't quite meet my goal of 109k, but I'm not about to shirk at 107,036 [only 2k behind]. Plus I'm incredibly sleep deprived and need my rest.

Update:
These past couple of words has brought Olivia to her doppelganger, a young man claiming to be Oliver Wells. Technically he's not her doppelganger as they're different genders, but the world thinks that Ollie was a boy, so when you consider that--he is.

I've been looking forward to Oliver's appearance quite a bit as he's got a villainous streak to him. When I first planned their encounter it was a really small moment, but now it's turned into something far more interesting. He's a con-man with some very valuable information, but he's also not someone to mess with. He will really give Olivia a run for her money for a little while. Which makes her big "I told you so" moment even more awesome. Squee!

And she's off.

Dear Jeebus I finally made it!

At 78,257 Olivia has finally made her decision to run off with her father's last invention [okay so technically I didn't write the memory part yet, so it'll be a few more words into the story once that's added]. The "decision scene" turned out far more touching that I could have imagined--oh my little characters how I've become so fond of you. I sincerely hope that I will not have to kill any of the good ones--perhaps some injury instead.

So that means we've gotten past character building and mysteries into full blown adventure and such. And that means that I have stepped into the territory of the completely unknown. Which sucks because I only have two days left of NaNo to figure most of that out.

Oh I know I won't finish my story on Sunday [at least another 40k to write], but I'm gonna try to get as far into that half as I can.

Wish me luck.

Sometimes your NaNo characters hijack your brain...

Often while in the midst of NaNo or working on any story, I have moments when I allow my characters to get too close and occasionally take over. My walk to work turns from thinking about my life to thinking about the characters, things they might say or bits of narration.

Then the hijacking begins.

I have a sudden urge to speak as Olivia and respond as Artemus or one of the Orvilles. I devise witty bits of narration for scenes I have yet to write. When they win, I have no choice but to say their words out loud or mouth them. And even when I fight, the facial expressions they might express in the scene playing out in my head, will appear on my own face.

This can be rather problematic, because people might think you're crazy. But this is also the sign that something is finally clicking. And nothing clicked more than when I stopped on my walk home, pulled out my notebook and proceeded to write over 1,000 words for a scene that just popped up in my mind. And it didn't stop there. Twice more, I stopped on the street, found a piece of paper and had to write down that bit of dialogue or prose before I could continue on my way.

But in the end it paid off because I have reached 42K. So hooray!

Unfortunately, my story is far from ending, so I know I need to work really hard these next 10 days to reach 100k or at least 80k before NaNoWriMo ends.

Plots fall apart...[or why character goals are important]

On the third day of NaNo, I wrote absolutely nothing.

Yep, nothing.

Fear not, I am not quitting NaNo, I just ran into a major issue that needed to be tackled before I could write anything else. That major problem being that my MC/Protagonist did not have her own goal. Sure she took on the goals of others as they came, but nothing was driving her. And as any good writer/writing book will tell you, the MC needs a goal or what's the point?

So I spent most of today trying to figure it all out and I have decided this:
My MC/Protagonist's father has gone missing and she has to find him/save him.

This opens a can of worms, so I still have a bit of replotting to do. Some characters can be salvaged, but a lot of them will probably be recast or dumped.


I've got a catching up to do.
Hope I don't have anything to do at work tomorrow.

Time is running out!

Time always flies faster when you've got a lot to do.

So right now I'm still at the bare bones stage and working out a few character issues. Once I have those issues taken care of, I should be able to round out the plot and finish the story.

No world planning per se, but I think I can get away with alot if I focus on the two key cities and avoid talking about the whole world. Fairly similar world view to ours in the 1900s but with a few changes. I think I'll probably do some free-writing and see what comes to mind.

As for characters, some are very clear in my mind. Others aren't clear but I can use their Greek origins for assistance. And then others...I haven't a clue. Those will be the hardest folks to tackle.

But no worries. I will be prepared...just keep telling myself that.

National Novel Editing Month

So March is National Novel Editing Month and I plan to participate. Although I've been super busy--I'm not going home for break. So that makes it the perfect opportunity to work on that novel of mine.

I printed out the novel already, which is quite a hefty stack of fibers. I'm sort of dreading reading it, but hey I might actually turn this into a really good story.

Anywho, Jean has inspired me to keep working on it, so the novel's been on my mind recently.

Here are some thoughts that recently popped up late last night:

Maybe Devii has an importance of her own, giving Othena another reason to go after her and to keep her in Benim. By doing this there is a greater drive to get the girl, besides her involvement in the whole situation. Haven't decided what the importance is yet.

Devii should have made previous escapes in the past. If her goal is to return home, then I think she would have attempted to run away before. I like that idea.


Either way, I think the story is a bit too linear. I need to figure out everyone's goals and make sure there are strong conflicts to add drama. Also, I need to add some interesting twists--but that might make the story longer.

Oh well. I'm tired.

Back on Track

So on November 2nd I wrote up a contract for myself, which outlined daily quotas along with prizes and punishments, which included:

1 piece of candy for every 1,000 words written.
1 chapter of any book for every daily goal met.
2 hours of WOW for exceeding my daily goal by 1,500 words.
Missing daily goals means no TV, gaming or book reading and time must be spend book planning or doing homework.

As I figured I was able to use today to make up for lost time.
Current word count [drum roll]: 5,261.

I have given my inner critic the boot except for his occasional advice on name and word choices. I only go back to embellish or add, but not to erase. I think I finally understand my characters and what they want. Hooray.

One minor change though. I created this character Cael who was to become Devii's new friend in Port Ryetto where she lives now. He was originally a kitchen boy--as in young. But somehow he blossomed into a 21 year old hottie who's the apprentice to what we would call a magician.

And on top of all this, he's becoming a possible love interest. That was not my intention for him, but he's made up his mind. He's even threatening to come on her adventure--we'll see. He could be handy.

Here's a little excerpt about him:

She glanced over at Cael who had not budged from his position. In fact he had been watching her. When their eyes met, he quickly looked away and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dark brown pants.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said, but still didn’t meet her eyes. Instead he picked up a watermelon and studied its markings. She walked over and stood in front of him. He looked down at her. Cael was at least five inches taller than her. A smile budded across his boyish face and he removed the hat from his head. Nervously he clutched the brown patterned cap against his matching vest.
“I wanted to talk to you.” He finally said, his voice wavering uneasily. Devii looked at him nervously. She knew what he wanted to talk about.

It's been a while...but I bring plot!

So I have finally accepted that my inner critic has been undermining my creativity. My boyfriend called me on it last night and I took his advice to heart. So I stuck with what I had:

A girl is bound to the service of a person, she wants her freedom.

Her main destination: a forest [preferably a rainforest] full of strange and wonderful creatures.

A man who is not human, with a dark past, that she must trust.

So I spent some time pondering about it. Answering the very plot issues that were convincing me to abandon it. And I had a eureka moment while walking to school.

This is what I dreamed up:

The MC is sold or taken from her home to serve a wealthy older woman who is a magic user. In exchange for serving her mistress's whim, she is being taught how to control her magic. However, the MC doesn't really enjoy her life--mostly because she is given the task of luring people to the house--people she never sees leave.

One day she figures out what is going on and finds a man, a blood drinker, chained up in the basement. Dazed in dreams, etc she stupidly sets him free [perhaps she befriends him for a while--or he haunts her dreams to gain her trust]. Either way he runs off leaving her to take the blame.

When the mistress finds out she decides to punish the girl. There are a couple of ways this can go. A) The mistress sends her off with one of her "guards" to kill the girl and get rid of her. B) She abandons the girl in a forest convinced she will die [feeding her to something?]. C) Sends her to find the man she unleashed. D) Send her into the forest to find something or someone.

Either way she ends up in a forest that she does not know. She makes a few mistakes and then is found by the very man she released. He offers his assistance as long as she will help him do something first. She accepts [it's possible she might plan to turn him in, but does not mention this].

Not sure what he wants though, but it's somewhere in the forest. Perhaps something the woman took from him. Or another creature that lives within the forest has it.

Along the way they will come across:
a) a girl who lost her brother [did he steal something?]--who might be a blind seer
b) zombies
c) the being that controls them
d) others like the man she released

Now either the mistress realizes that the girl was not killed and worries about her surviving and revealing her secret. So she sends others after her. Or she assumes she is dead, because her henchman tells her so.

Somehow she will escape the woods and either heads home first and decides to take revenge. Or desires revenge against her mistress--but when she appears to her mistress it is in disguise and kills her.

So I have a plot! And some characters to develop. Hooray!

Big questions to answer:
1) Why was that woman using the man?
2) Why were the kids in the forest? What did they steal?
3) What is the man seeking in the forest?
4) What is the mistress' ultimate goal?


Oh I'm so excited. This is like horror/dark fairytale/mythology/fantasy etc all wrapped up in a fun little adventure.

:: squeals with joy ::

Creating a good plot is complicated stuff

So that plot I posted a few days ago...it's gone the way of the dinosaurs.

It just wasn't working. I can't say what's entirely wrong with it, but it didn't seem to flow or move forward. It sort of came to a dead end halfway through the story. So I spent some time working on my characters, their needs, fears...who they are. And then revamping the plot. The story has changed a bit, but it still uses similar characters and ideas. So far I'm pretty happy with what I have at the moment [we'll see if that's still true after I sleep on it].

I'll post a more finalized plot with characters tomorrow[later today]--for now I rest!

:: drops down on her knees to before her muse ::

Please please please let this be the last plot change....I have a lot of world building to do!